Immersive Technology and Storytelling

Storytelling can be traced back to the very beginning of human existence. It's worked its way through multiple mediums, from oral traditions to art, text, images, cinema, and multimedia formats on the web. Humans are constantly redefining the best way to tell great stories, and immersive storytelling isn’t an exception. It breaks conventions and tears down the fourth wall, allowing the audience to be directly involved in the story. No other medium has the potential to provide the viewer with a fully immersive, narrative-led experience.

As we move into a world of immersive technologies, how will virtual reality transform storytelling? What roles will our institutions and students play as early explorers? In the traditional storytelling format, a narrative structure is presented to a listener, reader, or viewer. In virtual reality, however, you're no longer the passive witness-- you are the character.

A compelling use for using immersive technology, like virtual reality, is learning through storytelling. Stories are a powerful way to deliver meaningful and relevant content. The education is heightened when paired with a story that penetrates the heart of the student.

Teachers can introduce immersive media into their curriculums in many different ways to create meaningful learning experiences. Imagine a scavenger hunt where students narrate a story based on what they find. Or a lesson in which they use objects they see to identify vocabulary words or recognize letters. These are transformative, explorational lessons that will stick with the learners long after they’ve left the classroom.

Using a mobile device or tablet, the student can start the story and look around the scene. Baobab Studios just partnered with TechRow to provide inner city schools with the immersive film *Crow: The Legend*. The story, a Native American folktale about how the crow’s feathers became black, is available through TechRow’s affordable platform to aid in distance and homeschool learning.

Thanks to immersive technology, educational topics have never been presented so viscerally. Students can control how the narratives come to life, how the scene is animated, and even how to interact with the world around them. As educators continue to look for innovative ways for students to learn, TechRow is an accessible option for 360° media that will captivate a classroom and inspire real passion in young learners.